We have seen these caterpillars form their habitations of every sort of insect, from a butterfly to a beetle; and the soft, feathery wings of moths answer their purpose very well: but when they fall in with such hard materials as the musk beetle (_Cerambyx moschatus_), or the large scolopendra of the West Indies, they find some difficulty in the building. [Illustration: Transformations of the honeycomb-moths. _a_ _a_ _a_, Galleries of the cell-boring caterpillar; _b_, the female; _c_, the male moth (_Galleria alvearia_); _d_ _d_ _d_ _d_, galleries of the wax-eating caterpillar, _e_, seen at the entrance; _f_, the same exposed; _g_, its cocoon; _h_, the moth (_Galleria cereana_).] When the structure is finished, the insect deems itself secure to feed on the materials of the cloth or other animal matter within its reach, provided it is dry and free from fat or grease, which Réaumur found it would not touch. This may probably be the origin of the practice of putting a bit of candle with furs, &c., to preserve them from the moth. For building, it always selects the straightest and loosest pieces of wool, but for food it prefers the shortest and most compact; and to procure these it eats into the body of the stuff, rejecting the pile or nap, which it necessarily cuts across at the origin, and permits to fall, leaving it threadbare, as if it had been much worn. It must have been this circumstance which induced Bonnet to fancy (as we have already mentioned) that it cuts the hairs to make itself a smooth, comfortable path to walk upon. It would be equally correct to say that an ox or a sheep dislikes walking amongst long grass, and therefore eats it down in order to clear the way. [There is a little insect closely allied to these moths, which does a vast amount of harm to the bee-combs. This is the honeycomb-moth, of which there are in England two species, both belonging to the genus Galleria. This little creature is continually trying to make its way into the hives, and is as continually opposed by the bees, who instinctively know their enemy. If it once slips past the guards, the unfortunate bees are doomed to lose a considerable amount of their stored treasures, and have sometimes been so worried that they have been obliged to leave the hive altogether.